Peripheral pump-turbine

ABSTRACT

A peripheral pump-turbine including two wheels meshed with one another, laterally incorporating two or more blades fitting in matching recesses intercalated between said blades, being housed in a casing provided with fluid intake and discharge openings, where the wheels can incorporate teeth arranged between the blades and the recesses to allow the meshing thereof, and where the wheels can mesh by means of pinions integrally coupled to the shafts thereof in the outer portion of the casing.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a peripheral pump-turbine providing significantadvantages and novelty features to the intended function with respect toother similar devices, mechanisms and systems currently known on themarket.

More particularly, the invention focuses on a fluid driving mechanismformed by two wheels with blades that rotate in a meshed manner, themechanism is at the same time a peripheral turbine and pump, since,depending on the rotation direction of said wheels, the mechanism actsas a pump or a turbine where appropriate, integrating both types ofmachine in one and the same mechanism.

The field of application of the present invention is encompassed withinthe technical sector of the industry dedicated to manufacturinghydraulic turbines and pumps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today and as a reference to the state of the art, it must be highlightedthat, although there are several types of turbines and pumps of the typeregarded herein on the market, the applicant is unaware of the existenceof any other invention having the technical, structural and constitutivefeatures of the one proposed herein.

In this sense it must be highlighted that, although the proposedmechanism has two toothed wheels meshed with one another inside a casingwhich is similar to the peripheral pumps of the positive rotary typewhere the pinions peripherally drive the fluid, the difference lies inthe fact that in the proposed mechanism the wheels use the gears so thatone of the wheels moves the other in a synchronized manner and drive isachieved with the blades provided therein by means of the defined andmentioned dimensions of the fluid intake and discharge cavities, inaddition to rendering its enveloping casing with a great simplicity.

The operation of a hydraulic machine which purpose is to pump or harnessa fluid is very well known;

-   -   the purpose of a pumping process is to increase the pressure of        a liquid by adding energy to the hydraulic system, to move the        fluid from a low pressure or low altitude area to a high        pressure or high altitude area,    -   in contrast the harnessing process for harnessing a fluid        relates to continuously passing a fluid through the hydraulic        machine and the fluid delivers its energy through a runner with        vanes or blades.

Various applications relating to hydraulic machines are known such asthe patent application publication number U.S. 2002061256 in which itdescribes a pair of wheels comprising blades which are coupled torecesses made on the wheels themselves; but drawbacks such as thecomplexity for designing and manufacturing the enveloping casing of saidhydraulic machine, as well as a relatively small volume of intake anddischarge flow limiting the use to small hydraulic installations areobserved.

Another application belonging to the state of the art is the patentapplication publication number U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,491 where two wheelscomprise a pair of blades and a plurality of meshing teeth between bothwheels, such that said teeth transmit the movement and the blades drivethe fluid by way of a hydraulic pump; like in the application above, thecasing enveloping the device has relatively small fluid inlets andoutlets limiting the use of said device to relatively small volume offlow. Like the two applications mentioned above, the U.S. Pat. No.1,382,580 and the Spanish application ES 362473 have the same drawbacksdescribed above.

Patent application publication number ES 2131706 describes a pair ofmeshed wheels and a series of measurements relating to the dimensions ofthe teeth, fillet radii, etc. of said meshed wheels which can comprise aseries of blades acting as the drive in a pump type hydraulic machine,but said application does not describe the dimensions of the fluidintake and discharge cavities nor the shape of the casing envelopingsaid device; making it highly difficult to be put into service.

Finally, the U.S. Pat. No. 349,270 describes a small pressure pump whichalso comprises a single piece outer casing provided to be capable ofmoving small volume of fluid flow.

Therefore, it is observed that, there are several drawbacks mainlyrelating to the use of pump-turbines of this type for installationsneeding to move large volume of flow, mainly in hydroelectric plants;since the main focus of the mentioned prior arts relate to smallmachines intended for moving small volumes of fluids.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The hydraulic machine for pumping and harnessing a specific a fluidproposed by the invention solves the aforementioned drawback in a fullysatisfactory manner, such that it simplifies the process of assemblingand putting the invention itself into service in addition to havinglarger intake and discharge cavities than those used today, which allowmoving a larger volume of water reducing times and improving theoperation of the assembly.

Fluid is understood as liquid or gaseous fluid of any type, being ableto be liquids such as water, oils or the like, to gases used in specificindustries.

The peripheral pump-turbine proposed by the invention specificallycomprises a mechanism made up of two wheels meshed with one another,such that one moves the other in a synchronized manner, the wheelslaterally incorporate two or more blades fitting in matching holesarranged on their sides intercalated with the blades in said meshedrotation.

The possibility that the dimension of the openings is defined by alength calculated as the sum of the following is contemplated:

the horizontal projection of the distance between the centers of thewheels,

the product of the radius times the cosine of the semiangle formed bytwo consecutive blades of one of the wheels,

the product of the radius times the cosine of the semiangle formed bytwo consecutive blades of the other wheel.

Said dimensions are thus greater with respect to the known state of theart, such that they allow moving a high volume of liquid, improving theperformance with respect to the other hydraulic turbo-pumps and evenreducing the size thereof with respect to the known state of the art;more specifically the size of the openings of the intake and dischargecavities are the biggest possible, obtaining the maximum volume of fluidto be moved and being able to be used in several applications such asextinguishing fires at high altitudes or the like.

Likewise, machines of this type are preferably focused on moving highvolumes of flow, such as for high power hydroelectric plants; due to thelarge volume which can circulate through said machine and mainly due tothe dimensions mentioned above referring to the dimension of the intakeand discharge openings.

It is observed that for wheels which comprise two blades and tworecesses, respectively, the semiangle formed by two consecutive bladesis a 90° angle, therefore the calculated length of the openings beingonly the horizontal projection of the distance between the centers ofthe wheels.

In a preferred embodiment, the casing will be formed by two side coverspartially covering the upper and lower portion of the wheels withblades, thus determining the fluid intake and discharge holes, and bytwo frontal covers through which the shafts of said wheels emerge andthrough which the movement is applied to one of them. It must be takeninto account that the terms “upper”, “lower”, “side”, “frontal”,“front”, “rear”, etc., in this description are used with respect to themost common arrangements of the mechanisms of this type, i.e., with theshafts of the wheels arranged horizontally and at one and the samelevel.

Said wheels are housed inside a divided casing, respective fluid intakeand discharge openings being provided in said casing.

It is observed that assembling said casing differs from the state of theart known until now, in the sense that two side covers are needed whichupon being assembled define the fluid intake and discharge holes,without the need of making perforations or drill holes on a single coveras in the mentioned prior arts.

Once the two side covers are assembled, the two frontal covers arecoupled, thus obtaining an easy-to-assemble and simple casing which doesnot need subsequent machining made up of the parts forming it, andadditionally having a high dimensional precision in terms of thedimensions of the fluid intake and discharge openings.

It must be emphasized that in the mentioned prior arts pressure pumps orblowers which are capable of moving small volumes of fluid flow aredescribed, therefore the enveloping casing is formed by means of asingle part; but for the purpose of moving high volumes of flow, itcannot be formed by single part; therefore the casing of the inventionis made such that it is divided into parts, and where the parts definethe intake and discharge openings, being clearly differentiated from thestate of the art known until now; making the forming process for usecheaper focusing on the movement of large volumes of flow.

Additionally, it is understood that the mechanism will act as a turbineor a pump according to how the wheels rotate and thereby the mentionedblades, in one direction or another.

It is important to point out that if the mentioned fluid to be driven isoil, the gear teeth of the wheels could be incorporated therein,arranged between the blades and the holes, being therefore inside thepumped oil. However, if the fluid to be driven is water, to prevent thegear teeth from seizing, these teeth will be incorporated in perfectlylubricated pinions located externally in the frontal or rear portion ofthe casing enclosed in a leak-tight chamber, being convenientlyintegrally coupled to the shafts of the wheels with blades.

Finally, it must be stated that the blades do not need to brush againstthe walls of the holes of the complementary wheel in which they fit uponrotating, since wear is prevented and the pumping of the fluid iscorrect by leaving a gap of several microns of clearance; in addition tocooling the machine, the invention prolongs its service life due to thereduction of the working temperature of said machine.

The peripheral pump-turbine described represents an innovative structurehaving structural and constitutive features unknown until now for suchpurpose, reasons which together with the practical use thereof provideit with sufficient foundation for obtaining the privilege of exclusivitysought.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that is being made and for the purpose ofaiding to better understand the features of the invention according to apreferred practical embodiment thereof, a set of drawings is attached asan integral part of said description in which the following has beendepicted with an illustrative and non-limiting character:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of theperipheral pump-turbine of the invention, being depicted without thefrontal portion of the casing or the rear portion to enable viewing theinside, in an embodiment with two blades and with teeth for meshing withthe wheels themselves.

FIGS. 2 and 3 shows respective schematic cross-section views accordingto a side elevational section of respective embodiments of theperipheral pump-turbine according to the invention, in this case havingtwo and three blades and without meshing with one another by means ofpinions outside the casing.

FIG. 4 depicts an exploded image of a practical embodiment of theperipheral pump-turbine of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In view of the mentioned drawings and according to the adoptednumbering, two preferred embodiments of the invention can be observedtherein, which comprises the portions and elements indicated anddescribed in detail below, the common portions and elements beingreferred to with the same numerical references.

Therefore, as seen in said drawings the peripheral pump-turbine (1) inquestion comprises a mechanism made up of two wheels (2) meshed with oneanother, such that one moves the other in a synchronized manner, thewheels laterally incorporate two or more blades (3) fitting in matchingrecesses (4) arranged on their sides intercalated between said blades(3) in said meshed rotation.

These wheels (2) are housed inside a structure formed by the two frontand rear frontal covers (8) and the intercalation of casings (5)strongly attached by means of screws. Since the casings (5) are shorter,the hole between both forms the fluid inlet and outlet.

The structure of the peripheral pump-turbine (1) is preferably formed bythe two frontal covers (8) and the two casings (5) between them formingthe pump body with the two semicircles where the two wheels (2) areincluded to perform their function of entraining the fluid. The twocasings (5) leave the fluid intake and discharge openings (6) betweenthem, the two frontal covers (8) being through which the shafts (9) ofthe wheels emerge and through which the movement is applied thereto.

The dimension of the openings (6) is defined by a length calculated asthe sum of:

the horizontal projection of the distance between the centers of thewheels (2),

the product of the radius times the cosine of the semiangle formed bytwo consecutive blades (3) of one of the wheels (2),

the product of the radius times the cosine of the semiangle formed bytwo consecutive blades (3) of the other wheel (2).

In one embodiment of the peripheral pump-turbine (1) applicable fordriving oil, the gear teeth (10) of the wheels (2) are incorporatedtherein, as shown in the example of FIG. 1, arranged between the blades(3) and the recesses (4), therefore being impregnated with the pumpedoil inside the casings (5).

In an alternative embodiment in which the fluid to be driven is water,the wheels (2) mesh by means of respective pinions (11) integrallycoupled to the shafts (9) thereof and located in the outer portion ofthe casing (5), such as observed in the exploded view of FIG. 4, in thiscase the wheels (2) lack teeth (10) as observed in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIGS. 2 and 3 depict respective schematic side elevational views ofrespective embodiments of the peripheral pump-turbine (1) according tothe invention, in this case having two and three blades (3) and withoutmeshing with one another by means of pinions outside the casing (5). Theembodiment with two blades (3) in each wheel (2) and how they arediametrally separated by 180° and how the casing (5) makes an angle of180° which is exactly the separation between two blades (3) aretherefore observed in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment with three blades (3) in each wheel and howthey are spaced at an angle of 120°, that being the angle of the casings(5) so that the blades (3) at the end position close the ends of thecasings (5).

An exploded image of the peripheral pump-turbine (1) is observed in FIG.4, where the frontal covers (8) and how the casings (5) are locatedbetween the covers and the wheels (2) with the blades (3) and recesses(4) are located inside the casings can be seen. The shafts (9) of thewheels (2) traverse the frontal covers (8) through the orifices (7) andthere would be placed on the outside the pinions (11) meshed with oneanother which would be enclosed by a cover (12) the inside of whichwould retain the lubricating fluid which would facilitate the correctoperation of the gears.

Having sufficiently described the nature of the present invention aswell as the manner of carrying it out into practice, making a moreextensive explanation so that any person skilled in the art canunderstand its scope and the advantages derived therefrom is notconsidered necessary, stating that, within its essential nature it couldbe carried out into practice in other embodiments differing in detailfrom that indicated by way of example, which embodiments will alsoachieve the protection sought provided that their essential principle isnot altered, changed or modified.

1. Peripheral pump-turbine formed by a mechanism which drives a fluid,comprising: two wheels meshed with one another such that one moves theother in a synchronized manner, wherein the wheels laterally incorporatetwo or more blades fitting in matching recesses arranged on their sidesintercalated between said blades in said meshed rotation, wherein saidwheels are housed inside casings between which respective openings forintake and discharge of fluid are formed.
 2. Peripheral pump-turbineaccording to claim 1, wherein a dimension of the openings is defined bya length calculated as a sum of: a horizontal projection of a distancebetween centers of the wheels, a product of a radius times a cosine of asemiangle formed by two consecutive blades of one of the wheels, aproduct of the radius times the cosine of the semiangle formed by twoconsecutive blades of the other wheel.
 3. Peripheral pump-turbineaccording to claim 1, wherein the casings partially cover upper andlower portions of the wheels with blades, thus determining the fluidintake and discharge openings, laterally demarcated by two front andrear frontal covers, through which shafts of the wheels emerge andthrough which the movement is applied thereto.
 4. Peripheralpump-turbine according to claim 1, wherein the wheels incorporate teethto allow meshing thereof, the teeth being incorporated therein arrangedbetween the blades and the recesses.
 5. Peripheral pump-turbineaccording to claim 1, wherein the wheels mesh by means of respectivepinions which are lubricated and enclosed in a compartment, integrallycoupled to shafts thereof and located in an outer portion of the casing.6. Peripheral pump-turbine according to claim 1, wherein an angle ofseparation of the blades of each wheel determines an angle of contact ofthe casings with respect to the wheels.